TSA: Body scanner adds ‘additional layer of security’ at airport

ST. GEORGE – With an increasing amount of passengers flying out of St. George in recent years, the St. George Regional Airport became a candidate to receive a new piece of screening equipment from the Transportation Security Administration – a full-body scanner.

The TSA installed a body scanner at the St. George Regional Airport that TSA officials say will provide an extra layer of security at the facility, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2017 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

“We’re really happy to have the body scanner here and installed at St. George,” TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said Thursday.

Passengers from St. George are feeding into the aviation system across the country and beyond, Dankers said, and the body scanner provides “an additional layer of security.”

“It’s designed to detect metallic and non-metallic items that may be concealed under a passenger’s clothing,” Dankers said. “This is important because we know explosives remain the greatest threat against aviation, and explosives can be made out of a non-metallic substance.”

Officially known as Advanced Imaging Technology, the body scanner is the primary screening method utilized by the TSA.

Once an individual steps into the booth and is scanned, a generic outline of a human body appears on a screen in front of waiting TSA agents. If there is nothing found, a “CLEAR” pops onto the screen. If something is found, a yellow box appears in the general location where a suspect item was detected.

TSA agents do a localized pat-down of the area rather than a full-body pat-down in these cases, Dankers said.

Travelers with metallic-implants, such as replacement hips and knees, will love the body scanner, Dankers said, because their implants won’t set it off as they would a metal detector.

The new body scanner at the St. George Regional Airport depicts generic outlines of the people it scans and depicts anomalies detected on the body as yellow boxes, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2017 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

The decision to install a body scanner at the St. George Regional Airport was made in part due to the increasing number of travelers flying out of it. Over the last three years there has been a 21 percent increase in departing fliers, according to the TSA.

In 2014, TSA agents at the St. George Regional Airport checkpoint screened approximately 77,000 passengers. By 2016 they had screened more than 96,000 passengers.

Other factors involved in picking where a body scanner will be put include issues related to the destinations of outgoing flights and potential risks, among a variety of other qualifiers.

“This airport fit those categories,” Dankers said.

Body scanners have been used in other airports for four years or more, with 140 more planned to be installed in other airports across the country. The cost of installation runs around $104,000 per unit.

The system works by scanning an individual with what is called “milometer wave technology” that uses electromagnetic waves to scan someone. According to the TSA, the energy emitted from the scan is 1,000 times less than international limits and guidelines and is well within national and international health and safety standards.

The body scanner at the St. George Regional Airport was put into use last Friday.

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.

The new body scanner at the St. George Regional Airport depicts generic outlines of the people it scans and depicts anomalies detected on the body as yellow boxes, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2017 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

The TSA installed a body scanner at the St. George Regional Airport that TSA officals say will provide an an extra layer of security at the facility, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2017 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

The TSA installed a body scanner at the St. George Regional Airport that TSA officals say will provide an an extra layer of security at the facility, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2017 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

Both a male and female TSA agent are on hand on the far side of the new body scanner at the St. George Regional Airport in order to tend to male or female travelers accordingly, St. George, Utah, July 6, 2017 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

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About the Author

Mori Kessler serves as a Senior Reporter for St. George News, having previously contributed as a writer and Interim Editor in 2011-12, and an assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began writing news as a freelancer in 2009 for Today in Dixie, and joined the writing staff of St. George News in mid-2010. He is also a shameless nerd and has a bad sense of direction, often telling people go left while he is pointing right. Numbers greater than five also confuse him.

Remember folks, not all terrorists are from the Middle East. The majority of terror attacks on US soil have be performed by good ol’ American White Boys. Remember Timothy McVeigh, Dylan Roof, the Unabomber, etc.

I’m all for profiling! I profile people all day. Customers walk in I say to myself, there’s a tweeker, wonder if that one is on heroin or meth, or both? That one is high right now, there’s a thief, oh I can’t stand that customer, he’s a douchbag that wants everything half off……y’all should get some judgement 🙂